Admit It
by Shiro Ryuu
Summary: [FINISHED] Ryou gets stuck babysitting Mokuba for a week, but is he spending more time with one Kaiba brother than the other...? BxRxS
1. Truth or Dare

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing! Believe it or not! Well, actually I like to imagine that I own Seto Kaiba, but sadly I don't... Okay, you really don't want to go there. Trust me.

**A/N**: XD, I swear I can _almost_ remember writing this... Can you imagine? This is the third fic I ever wrote, I believe, though it took me almost a year to write it... You lucky people; this time around it won't take nearly that long since I'm reposting it. For those of you reading this on , I shall be editing out the lemons because being booted has scarred me for life... But I'll give a link to Media Miner or someplace, dun worry :) Hmm... Warning: Terribly OOC Bakura! Be afraid!

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**Chapter One**: Truth or Dare

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"I'm bored," Bakura announced.

Ryou took a deep breath, trying to resist the temptation to scream. "Still?" he demanded. "All night you've been bugging me to give you an interesting dare, and now you're _still_ bored? Would you rather I dared you to kiss Anzu? That could be arranged, you know..."

Bakura grinned at his hikari. "What, do you want me to get sick? And I guess this is original, but still..." He trailed his fingers suggestively down Ryou's back.

Ryou shivered slightly at the touch despite himself, before shrugging him off. "Don't," he said firmly. "Not in the street! And anyway, I know what you mean and I'm _not_ daring you _that_; it wouldn't exactly be much of a dare, now would it?"

He smirked. "Oh, then I guess I know what I'm going to be daring you next then..." he snickered.

Ryou groaned. "Don't," he asked earnestly.

"Well... Alright," Bakura agreed. "But, you're gonna have to pay me back later..."

"O-okay," Ryou said, blushing and grinning at the same time.

They walked in silence for a few minutes. Finally Bakura said, "You know, if you don't stop looking so worried I might have to tickle you."

Ryou glowered at him. "Don't you dare. And anyway, how can I _not_ be worried? We're breaking in Kaiba's mansion, for crying out loud!"

"It was your dare, you know," he pointed out.

"Well, I know, but I never said anything about dragging me along..."

"Hey, I had to do something to make it fun," Bakura explained. "I mean, you're just going to make me give back whatever we steal next time we see Kaiba, so there's not as much point to it. Anyway, I think you should have a little more faith in me. I _was_ an expert tomb robber, after all."

"You say that like it's a good thing," Ryou muttered.

"What was that?"

"Um, nothing!"

They walked for a few more minutes, discussing the latest truth or dare session at Yugi's house. Bakura's opinion was that the high point of the game had been when Yugi and Yami had fallen off the couch in the middle of making out, but Ryou upheld that the best part was when Anzu ran around the house yelling 'Chicken!' at Jou trying to get him to stick his head in a toilet. Thankfully they had only just started bickering when they arrived at the fence surrounding Kaiba's mansion.

"So what do we do?" Ryou asked nervously. "Climb it?"

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Do I really know you?" he demanded. "No. First we need to check for guards, then throw a couple rocks over this thing to see if there's an alarm. Also keep an eye out for cameras; there are supposed to be a few and we need to see if there's a gap where we won't be seen."

"How do _you_ know there's cameras?"

He shrugged. "Oh, Kaiba told me about a lot of it a while ago. He wanted my opinion of his security precautions." He snickered. "I told him they were perfect. They aren't."

Ryou shook his head as they started walking around the fence, looking for guards and cameras. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Of course!" Bakura said cheerfully. "It's been far too long since I've gotten to steal anything that had decent security on it, even if I do have to give it back..."

By the time they had gone the whole way around the fence Bakura was giving a gleeful commentary on how stupid the safety measures were. Most of the main security was around the front gate, with a couple cameras at the back one and several others scattered around, but that was it. He had found not one but three different places where they could cross without being seen by the cameras, and when he threw a rock over the top of the fence nothing happened.

After they climbed over (Bakura scaled the fence with ease, while Ryou almost fell several times), Bakura stopped and scanned the lawn for a few moments. There were several cameras mounted in trees showing views of the choice routes to the house, but that wasn't what he was looking for. Ryou was just about to ask what he thought he was doing, when he was dragged a short distance away from the fence and Bakura reached down to apparently pull up a clump of grass. He actually pulled up a trap door, revealing a set of stairs going deep underground.

"Cool," Ryou commented.

"'Cool' would be an understatement," he said proudly. "I'm the only person besides Seto Kaiba and a few of his guards that even know about these passages. Now hurry up and get down there, before we're seen."

Bakura seemed to have the whole map of the underground passages memorized. There were a lot of other openings, but they didn't get lost. Within a few minutes they had reached a door that Bakura said went to the living room, which had an electronic lock and an old-fashioned kind.

"Crap," Ryou groaned, at the same time Bakura said, "Yes!"

Ryou stared at him suspiciously as he dug a little box out of one of his pockets and started working on the mechanical lock with a variety of tools. "Where'd you get those? I know you don't have any money..."

"Well, they just had it lying out, you know..." he said distractedly.

Ryou shook his head. "You had to steal something to help you steal things... honestly..."

"Your point? Ah, there we go; that was easy. Now on to the electronic one..."

The second lock took a little longer, but after a few minutes they were in the living room. Ryou dimmed the sennen ring, which he had been using to light their way. "So, what should we get?" he whispered.

Bakura grinned thoughtfully. "Well, we need to steal something that'll prove we got it from Kaiba," he said reasonably. "So... why don't we see if we can find one of his duel disk things? He probably has some up in his office..."

Ryou paled visibly. "His office?" he repeated.

Bakura shrugged. "Sure. How hard can it be? Come on, let's go."

They went upstairs to the second floor, and Bakura quietly opened one of the doors. After checking to see if Kaiba was there, he stepped inside. Ryou wince, waiting for an alarm to go off, but when none did he followed his yami.

"See?" Bakura said triumphantly. "He left one right here on his desk; perfect."

"What's perfect?" came a voice from the doorway. "The fact that you're in my office at two thirty in the morning certainly doesn't strike me as 'perfect.'"

It was none other than Seto Kaiba. Ryou groaned, giving his dark a look that clearly said 'I told you so!'

"Ryou and Bakura?" Kaiba commented, raising an eyebrow. "Do I even want to know?"

"Well, um... probably not..." Bakura said, feeling a little uncomfortable in the CEO's presence in spite of himself.

"It was a game of truth or dare," Ryou admitted. "I dared him to steal something from you, and he just sort of dragged me along. But we were going to give it back, I swear. If you don't believe me then call the game shop; everyone else's there and they'll tell you."

Kaiba looked at him critically for a moment, then shrugged. "Fine," he consented. "As long as you return it as soon as possible, you can borrow the disk."

"Thanks," Ryou said gratefully. "Well, I guess we should go then..."

The CEO held up a hand. "You can borrow the disk," he repeated, "on one condition. You owe me, and it had better be something I want."

They stared at him. "You can't be serious," Bakura finally said. "What could we possible have that you want?"

Kaiba leaned against the doorway, smirking a little. "That's what I'd like to know."

"Oh come on," Bakura started irritably. "We don't have _that_ much money; I mean, we're not poor but we're not billionaires either, unlike yourself-"

The taller boy shook his head. "No, that's not what I mean at all," he explained. "I don't want or need your money; what I want is amusement, which I often find hard to come by what with running Kaiba corp and all. I think it will be very humorous to see what you two come up with."

"Oh, so do you want us to put on a song and dance act for you or something?" the yami demanded sarcastically; he was trying very hard not to let on how uncomfortable the suggestiveness of what Kaiba was saying was starting to make him.

"I know!" Ryou said suddenly, surprising them both. "How about we baby-sit Mokuba for a week for you? I'm sure he must get in your hair..."

The taller boy regarded him with interest while Bakura let out a sigh that was a combination of relief and something bordering on shame; how was it that Ryou was so incredibly naive that he didn't even notice what Kaiba sounded like he was suggesting, even if he was just doing it to make them uneasy...?

"That might just do," Kaiba said thoughtfully, then nodded. "Yes, I think that will. Very well; since tomorrow is Sunday I would like it if you came here the day after, on Monday after school. Return the duel disk then; like I said I want it back as soon as possible."

Ryou nodded eagerly and took off, calling back various thank-yous and good nights while Bakura rolled his eyes, and back in the living room they were met by a rather sleepy-looking guard that Kaiba had apparently called from his duty at the main entrance to escort them out.

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Bakura sighed. "Why did you have to volunteer us like that?" he demanded, a little later as they were walking back to Yugi's place.

"You're still going on about that?" Ryou shook his head. "Come off it already; it's only for a week."

"I don't know," Bakura said skeptically. "It's just that Kaiba guy... He makes me nervous, I guess."

Ryou snorted. "You? Nervous?" he asked, grinning. "Are you on something, yami?"

Bakura glared. "I am not!" he said firmly, as they came up to game shop.

Ryou rolled his eyes. "I was teasing, you know," he said gently, and by way of making amends he kissed his other half passionately for a minute or so before they went in.

Even Bakura was a bit startled by what they saw when they went into the living room. Jou and Honda were making out heatedly, beyond the point of noticing or caring about the two new arrivals. Mai and Anzu were in the same state, and Yugi and Yami, well...

"I guess... they got bored..." Ryou comment, blushing and taking a step back. "Maybe we should... go..."

"Nah," Bakura smirked, watching unabashedly. "I think we should join them," he elaborated, then pounced.

"Umf! Wait a... mmm... minute, can't you?! There's a free... free couch right over there!"

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Kaiba frowned a little, lying awake in bed some time after the other two boys had left. Why did he have to go and lend them that disk? He had been working on it, dammit...

And more importantly, why had he agreed to let them baby-sit his brother? He knew even less about Ryou than the others, though Mokuba seemed to like him well enough, and all he knew about his yami was that he was more than likely to try and steal more of his stuff if he let him in his house. If he had really wanted a babysitter that he was at least acquainted with he should have asked Anzu; she seemed like the type that would be good with kids, even if she did annoy the hell out of him. But then of course Mokuba would try and play match-maker and that would probably have been the most horrible experience of the last five years of his life at least... He supposed, when he really sat back and thought about it, that Ryou and Bakura were really the only members of that disgusting little group that _didn't_ actively annoy him, except possibly that Honda boy but he was the mutt's boyfriend so he didn't count. Still... he just couldn't figure out what made him do it.

'Oh well,' Kaiba thought, sighing a little as he rolled over and finally closed his eyes. 'It's only for a week, after all.'

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**A/N**: Well, that was... weird. No, contrary to popular belief, I did not actually sit down and try to come up with the weirdest possible way for Ryou to get stuck baby-sitting Mokuba. And yes, I am aware that it sucked. But don't worry, it'll get better... [drool]... much better... [beam] R&R peeps!


	2. Scarred

**Disclaimer**: Yes, I own it! It's all mine! Mine! [looks sheepishly at lawyers] Eh heh... Can I claim temporary insanity? Well, I'm not sure it's temporary... [deflates] Alright, fine, it's not mine; [pout] Hey, that rhymed...

**A/N**: !!! [sigh] [singing] Noooobody knows... the number of things I've posted today... I never want to repost a single story, ever, for the rest of my life. Ever. I think I need ice-cream. It doesn't help that I keep having to stop whatever I'm doing to go help with something involved in closing up our pool for the winter... [sniff] Okay, I needed rant space; I feel better now :) This chapter is somewhat angsty compared to the first one; ye have been warned.

{blah-ness} Bakura thru link

/blah-ness/ Ryou thru link

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**Chapter Two**: Scarred

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Bakura came around slowly, savoring the fact that he had woken up before Ryou's blasted alarm clock went off for once. As he became conscious again, he wondered why. Was it a weekend? No, he suddenly remembered, it was Monday, and that meant... Kaiba; more specifically, babysitting for his little brother. Oh Ra... If he hadn't been afraid of waking Ryou up, he would have groaned.

Speaking of Ryou... He finally figured out why he had woken up. Said hikari was draped over his arm, effectively cutting off circulation from the elbow down. Now he was faced with a new question: why he hadn't noticed earlier? He must not have been awake enough until now, because it hurt like shit. (At this point, your job as a reader is to go: aw, kawaiiiii...). It was amazing the difficulties that Ryou could cause when he wasn't even awake yet... He supposed that was probably one of the reasons he loved him.

Suddenly, as he turned his head to look at his koi, his expression softened a little. Hikari really was the perfect word, he reflected. Ryou, as cliché as it sounded, really did look like a sleeping angel, and if there was ever a being that represented light it was an angel. It was a win-win situation, he decided. 'If Ryou continues to sleep then I'll be more than happy to just lie here and stare at him, but if he woke up, at least sometime soon, then maybe I'd be able to write again someday...' He reached out with his other hand, stroking his hikari's face...

The alarm clock rang, and Ryou sat bolt upright with an expression like a deer caught in the headlights. "69!"

Bakura glowered at his light's back, gingerly touching his arm. No good; couldn't feel a thing... "Right back at ya," he commented. "And I think they're going to have to amputate my arm; you slept on it and now it's numb..." Ryou grinned sheepishly and opened his mouth to apologize, but the spirit beat him to it. "Apology accepted," he said cheerfully, and pulled the other boy into a deep kiss.

When they finally pulled apart they were both gasping for breath; what did you expect? As soon as he could breathe, Bakura looked solemnly into his hikari's eyes. "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything," he said automatically, looking utterly flushed and delicious (Hey, this is Bakura's p.o.v.; I'm not that perverted! ... ... ... Yeah right...)

"Turn off the alarm clock; I'm begging you here."

Ryou rolled his eyes, but he grinned as he got up and did so. "Don't forget to tell your dad where we're going this afternoon," the spirit added from the bed.

Ryou snickered. "Are you _sure_ I'm the girl in this relationship, love?"

"Positive," he replied, throwing a pillow at the other's head. The expression on his face was just too cute, and Bakura decided he needed another kiss.

"Are you sure I can't stay and watch you get dressed?" the dark half asked once they pulled apart.

For the second time that morning, Ryou rolled his eyes. "_No_. You know what would happen then, and I really do need to get to school."

Bakura tried to pout, and failed miserably. After one last quick peck on the cheek, he said good-bye and returned to his soul room. Ryou sighed contentedly, before setting about getting ready for school.

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After school that day a certain white-haired boy walked down a near-by ally, and a few minutes later two white-haired boys walked out. (Huh; I wonder what could have taken them so long... ). Together, they walked off in the direction of Kaiba's house.

After some thought, Ryou decided that he might as well tell his dad where he was really going. He was vaguely aware that his son knew Seto Kaiba, and left to his own devices he simply assumed that they were close enough friends that Ryou offered to baby-sit Mokuba for a while just on a whim. Ryou couldn't tell him the whole story, of course, because his father knew nothing about his yami. It was amazing how easily one could skate around the truth without telling a single lie, he mused. 'I've been spending too much time with my yami, I think.'

The house - no, mansion - was even more impressive by daylight. And it was a bit of a plus that the gate was open this time... Once they reached the front porch, Ryou hesitated for just a moment before ringing the doorbell.

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Honestly, Ryou..." he sighed, before yanking open the door and walking right in. He made it about one step, before he ran into the butler. Literally, that is.

"... oops," the spirit commented, surveying the mess. Apparently the older man had been carrying -something-, but it was hard to tell what at this point.

"...Oh dear," Ryou managed. "Oh... Oh gosh! I'm so sorry! G-gomen nashi! Bakura, apologize!"

"..." The yami sweatdropped.

"HI!"

It was a good thing the poor butler was still sitting down. Mokuba, who could apparently teleport, beamed at them. "Well, don't just stand there! Come in! Are you hungry? Hey, do you like video games? I just got-"

'Oh Ra...' Bakura thought. "When's your brother getting home?" he interrupted, as he absentmindedly fished the dual disk out of Ryou's backpack and handed it to the dazed servant (who was still on the floor).

"Oh, we've got a good couple hours yet," the resident ball of energy said cheerfully. "Do you like Kingdom Hearts?"

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It was almost an hour later, after a snack for all and an extensive lesson in Play Station games for Bakura, when there was finally a moment of calmness. The yami and the hikari were sitting next to each other on the couch, and the younger Kaiba brother was lying spread-eagle on the floor. "Hey Mokuba?" Ryou said suddenly.

"Huh?"

"I was just wondering about something... I've notice you have at least a few servants around here, so why do you need a babysitter? Not that we mind; I'm just curious."

{Oh don't we now? Hmph...}

/Oh hush :)/

Mokuba shrugged, picking at the carpet. "Well, there are six, for starters. Servants, I mean. But they're all way older than me; they're even all older than -Seto-kun-. So, you know, they're not really fun to hang out with." He brightened a little. "I guess you guys are older than me too, but you're my friends so it's way different!"

Ryou sweatdropped. "Yeah, I guess I see where you're coming from there. So... what do you want to do now?"

{You just -had- to ask that, didn't you?}

"Hide-and-go-seek!" Mokuba squealed.

Bakura moaned, burying his face in his hands. "Kill me now," he said bluntly.

Mokuba pouted. "Aw, come on! Just for a little while!"

Ryou winked at him, then with amazing speed he bowled Bakura over and proceeded to tickle him. "Play with us, or else," he demanded.

{Well, I'd certainly like to 'play' with -you-, and after this I think you deserve it... Agg; stop!}

Ryou went bright red, hoping desperately that the black-haired boy didn't notice. /Say you'll play and I'll stop./

He groaned. "F-fine! But you are so gonna get it later..."

Mokuba finally recovered enough from his giggling fit to say, "Alright! Ryou's it!"

"Why me?" he objected. "You know the house so well that I'll never be able to find you."

"Yeah, but I know it well enough to find you no matter where you hide too, so it doesn't really matter," he said logically, with the all-conquering logic of small children. "And anyway, I'd never be able to get you guys if you ganged up on me. Now count to fifty!"

Mokuba took off at a run, and Bakura left in the opposite direction at a slightly more leisurely pace. 'I suppose if I'm going to play this game, I might as well play it well,' he decided wearily, as he climbed a flight of stairs. He found himself in a hallway with three doors on either side, and when he tried one it was locked. "Twenty-six... Twenty-seven..." floated up from downstairs. He smirked, picking the lock by the time Ryou reached forty. He shut and locked it again, before looking around.

It was a bedroom, and it looked lived in. He concluded that the servants weren't allowed to clean in here, because the bed wasn't made, the closet door hung open (displaying shoes, trench coats, shirts, etc.), and the desk was cluttered with bits of electronics and thoroughly scribbled-on paper.

The spirit's eyes widened, as he put two and two together. This was... Kaiba's bedroom.

If it had been anyone else, they probably would have felt pretty awkward right about now. But this is Bakura we're talking about. He grinned evilly, and proceeded to rummage through the desk drawers.

He didn't even hear the sound of someone trying the doorknob, then moving on.

It was in the bottom left-hand drawer. He almost didn't notice it. A picture frame, face down, buried under everything else. The spirit pulled it out curiously, turning it over.

Apparently, it was an old family photo. It featured a little Seto, looking to be about the age his brother was now, an even littler Mokuba, and... Bakura frowned. There was someone, a man, standing behind both of them with his hand resting on Seto's shoulder, but his face was cut out...

"Bakuraaaa!"

"Yami-kun?"

Bakura jumped, hurriedly replacing the picture and all the papers that had been on top of it, before slamming the drawer shut. He headed back downstairs, sheepishly re-opening his mind link with his hikari now that he wasn't trying to hide any more.

Speaking of... "Where were you?" Ryou asked worriedly. "We were calling..."

"Eh, I just about fell asleep waiting for you to find me, that's all," he said casually.

{In other words, I'll tell you later; it was priceless. Kaiba has -black silk- sheets; can you believe it?!} Ryou gave him a severe look.

"Oh, Mokuba?" he added on impulse.

"Huh?" he asked, blinking.

"Um..." He hesitated. It was really none of his business, but since when had he ever cared? "What happened to your mom and dad, anyway?" Ryou frowned at him again.

Mokuba shrugged, not looking particularly bothered. "Oh, they died a little after I was born; I don't really remember them. Though..." His expression darkened. "We were adopted by a man named Gozaburo, only he died too..." Then his eyes widened, making it clear that he had just now realized what he was saying. "Um, anyway, um... I'm it, aren't I? So, uh, go on and hide and I'll count, okay?"

/He seemed really shaken up, didn't he?/ Ryou commented thoughtfully, as they set off in search of a hiding place. /Oh by the way, I think you and I need to have a talk. Black silk?/

{Yes, dear} the other replied, barely keeping from snickering out loud. {Yes, I think you'd look very good in black silk...}

/Bakura!/

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It was an hour later, at which point they had gone back to playing Kingdom Hearts, when they heard the door slam shut. With an excited squeal, Mokuba dropped his controller and ran off.

Bakura blinked. "Um...?"

Ryou snickered. "I think Kaiba is home..."

And when they got to the entryway, they found that was indeed the case. Kaiba was bending down to mess up his brother's hair, and he glanced up at them when they came in. "So, you babysitters survived their first day? I'm amazed."

"Yeah!" he said cheerfully. "We played hide-and-go-seek and Kingdom Hearts, and we had to -teach- Bakura how to play, and they never even figured out that I was being extra annoying just to spin them up! It was great!"

Ryou gaped at him. "M-Mokuba!" Said boy hid behind Kaiba and stuck his tongue out.

Suddenly, Kaiba frowned. "Are you feeling well, Bakura?" he asked.

Bakura broke out of his daze and shut his mouth with a snap as all the attention in the room focused on him. "Um, I'm fine," he lied. "Could I speak with you for a minute, Kaiba-_sama_?"

Ryou raised an eyebrow. If there was one thing in life he was absolutely certain of, it was that his yami never, ever used the 'sama' honorific. /What-?/

{I'll tell you later.}

/You know, you're saying that a lot today./

{I know, I know. I swear I will though. You can listen in if you want, though I don't think Kaiba'd be too happy if he knew...}

"What?" Kaiba demanded, once they got into another room.

"Kaiba..." He paused briefly; he had to be careful just how he worded this. Putting two and two together was going to get him killed one of these days. "Were you abused as a child?" 'Once again, this is by no means my business, but once again, since when have I cared?'

The CEO blanched. "W-what the hell are you talking about?" he asked shakily.

"Your arms," the yami explained. "They're covered in scars; I saw them when you greeted Mokuba." In one fluid motion he pushed up the sleeve of Kaiba's jacket, revealing a crisscrossed web of marks, and looked at the other expectantly.

Kaiba wrenched his arm away. "No, I wasn't," he snapped. "Those are from a... dog."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Don't even try. For one thing, I'd love to see the dog that could do that, and for another, I know what a knife scar looks like. It's quite different from something made by teeth, I'm afraid."

If looks could kill... "So what if I was?" Kaiba finally ground out.

Bakura shrugged. "Oh, nothing much. I was just curious." And with that, he started to walk out.

Kaiba stared at him in shock for a moment, but just before he opened the door, the taller man grabbed his arm. "Don't you dare tell anyone about this; do you understand me?" He didn't look particularly intimidating; actually, he looked frightened.

The spirit looked up at him innocently. "Oh really?" Then he smiled; it was disturbing. "Don't worry; I won't. I promise. I understand how you feel." 'Believe me, I do...'

Then he walked out, leaving Kaiba standing there and staring into space.

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They didn't see Kaiba again before they left the mansion, but after they said their goodbyes to Mokuba and stepped out, they found a limo waiting for them. They were silent at first during the ride, avoiding each others' eyes and thinking about a time not very long ago...

/...I listened in,/ Ryou finally said.

{I know... And?}

/Oh Bakura.../ Ryou reached out, grabbing the other's hand in a death grip. /I feel so sorry for him.../

Bakura shot a glare at the limo driver, as if daring him to comment, before gathering his koi up in his arms. {I love you.}

Ryou smiled sadly. To have gone through that... and to have never had the chance to reconcile their differences, like he and Bakura had... he just couldn't picture it. /I love you too./

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**A/N**: [sob] So... sad... Eh, I've done worse; what am I complaining about? Don't worry; I promise the next chapter will be happier. Mokuba's just so cute, ain't he? You know, it's kind of depressing when, no matter how many times you read over your story, you always find a few more mistakes. Gah... Oh well; R&R, 'cus reviews make the world go spinny ... ... Yup, I've finally cracked. No, wait; actually, I've just had too much ice cream...


	3. Eyes of Ice and Eyes of an Angel

**Disclaimer**: Look! A piggy! ... ... ... What was the question?

**A/N**: I'm baaaack! Run away! ... Or not. (sigh) I have nothing much to say for myself, I guess, except for wow. It took over a month too get this out T.T Gomen! I blame it on PSATs, chronic laziness and lack of sugar. (looks over shoulder apprehensively) Evil PSATs, evil, they're out to get meeeeeee...

Okay, I feel better now. Maybe. Twitch. Er... Oh, yes, and I'd just like to apologize in advance; this is one of the chapters I'm having to edit a lemon out of O.O The horror... So, I hope it's not to terribly sucky. I suggest going to my profile and getting the addy for the full version on Media Miner instead. You see, for some reason, this place won't let me post site names in the stories either O.o Oh no, they're on to us! Enjoy ;)

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**Chapter Three**: Eyes of Ice and Eyes of an Angel

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Most of the rest of the ride passed in silence. Ryou had the limo driver pull over about a block from his house so that Bakura could return to the ring in the privacy of a small grove of trees, then the hikari walked home alone.

He got there just in time for dinner. After what he had found out that afternoon he was feeling generally depressed, but nevertheless he made it through dinner without his dad noticing anything. After that he diligently tortured his way through his homework, coming to the conclusion that he ought to try to do some of it at Kaiba's from now on, then decided to just go to bed because he didn't have anything better to do.

It was after he had gotten into the shower that he felt a familiar tingling that made him smile and really mean it for the first time since he got home. And moment later he felt a pair of strong arms wrap around him from behind and pull him close.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" he inquired, smiling.

Bakura chuckled. "I was bored," he said simply, releasing him after a few moments and proceeding to massage shampoo into his hair. (A/N: I'll bet that would take a while, when your hair comes down to your butt...). Then, with his hands still buried in foam, he pulled his light close again for a long, lingering kiss.

After a while they had to break apart because of simple lack of air, but they continued to hold on to each other. "Ryou?" Bakura asked quietly, once they got their breath back.

"Hmm?" he said distractedly, just reviling in being held by his koi.

"May I make love to you?"

Well, that was certainly enough to break him out of his trance. He was sure it wasn't really the best time, but he couldn't help but snicker. "Why so formal all of the sudden?"

"Well..." Bakura winced. "Ug; this sounds pretty stupid... But I just... I want you to understand that I love you, and that I'd never make you do anything you don't want to do. The last thing in the world that I want to do is hurt you."

Ryou smiled sadly. His yami was just as shaken by all this as he was, he reflected. He looked up, meeting Bakura's eyes. "I know," he said simply. "I love you too, and I know you would never hurt me. I guess what I'm really trying to say is-" here his voice seemed to develop a teasing tone, for some odd reason - "_of course_ you may make love to me..."

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"You know, I think we ought to do this more often," Bakura commented, once they had gotten their breath back.

Ryou giggled. "If we did this any more often then we already do, I'd have to drop out of school."

"Such a pity..."

"Ryou! Are you all right in there?"

Needless to say, both yami and hikari jumped about a mile. Ryou laughed nervously. "Um, yeah, I'm fine dad. Er, why?"

"I thought I heard a scream!"

"Oh, uh, I slipped and fell. I'm such a klutz... eh heh... But I'm fine, really!"

There was a moment of silence. "Oh, well all right then. Hey, you should be getting to bed soon; you have school tomorrow."

Ryou swore quietly; it was so easy to forget about things like that when engaged in... certain activities. He just hoped no one asked him how he got a limp tomorrow; that was always so embarrassing... "Um, okay. G'night!"

Of course, as soon as he was out of hearing range, they both burst into a fit of laughter.

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Later that night, after they had dried off and snuck back to the bedroom, Ryou lay awake watching his yami drifting into sleep. "Aishitaru." Apparently Bakura was already asleep because he didn't say anything, but Ryou knew he knew so it didn't matter. He smiled, beginning to fall asleep himself.

"Aishitaru you too," someone else said.

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During school the next day several people did indeed ask him about his limp, but after being together with Bakura for over a year he had quite a nice stock of replies. Only his close friends - Yugi, Jou, Honda, Anzu and Mai - knew what really happened, without even having to ask, and it amused them to no end. They stopped teasing him pretty quickly, though, when Ryou commented on how fashionable Yugi's turtleneck was.

After school let out Ryou made use of the same handy alleyway from the day before, and then he and Bakura set off in the direction of Kaiba's mansion. They were able to keep Mokuba quieter today, because Ryou had made a smart move and brought his dueling deck. The younger Kaiba seemed to be taking after his older brother because he was able to beat the hikari several times, although he couldn't defeat Bakura. After they got bored of dueling, Bakura played Kingdom Heart with the black-haired boy while Ryou did his homework.

There was the sound of the front door opening and shutting, and Ryou's head snapped up. There was no way Kaiba was back already... Only apparently there was, because they could already hear Mokuba shouting 'Seto-kun!' from the entryway.

When Ryou and Bakura walked in, they found Mokuba hugging his older sibling in a death grip and telling him about every single thing that happened to him that day. Kaiba spared a curt nod for the babysitters, but he didn't seem very interested in talking to them.

"-and, and, Seto-kun, can I ask you something?" Mokuba finished, panting.

Kaiba raised an eyebrow. "'May.' And, you may certainly _ask_, though after that I don't guarantee anything."

"Seto-kun, can Ryou and Bakura stay for dinner?" Think puppy-dog eyes.

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "'_May_,' Mokuba."

"Then they can?" he squeaked.

"Now I remember why I thought a babysitter for you would be a good thing; I give up. And..." He paused to glare over his brother's head at Bakura. "I never said that. Absolutely not."

"Aw, onii-san! Please?"

Kaiba carefully avoided looking him in the eyes. "No."

"Come on, just this once?" he begged. "Not as my babysitters; just as my friends. You don't even have to eat with us!"

Ryou chuckled. "Really, Kaiba; even you can't say no to a face like that," he said gently. "I promise we'll try not to annoy you."

Kaiba sighed. Unfortunately, that Ryou was right. "Okay, fine. They can stay; I'll even eat with you. But I certainly hope you don't expect me to hold any conversations." With a final glare at Bakura, he swept into the dining room.

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For all his money, dinner at Kaiba's wasn't anything fancy. The food was good but simple, and the one servant that made it joined them at the table. She mostly kept to herself, but every once in a while she would join in on the conversation Ryou and Mokuba were having. Bakura and Kaiba, however, were silent.

'He really is an... intriguing person,' Bakura reflected, carefully pretending not to be staring at the CEO across the table. 'What I found out yesterday would certainly explain why he acts so cold. I wonder whatever happened to that old man of his, anyway... His eyes are pretty interesting too...' He didn't even notice as his thoughts drifted away from, well, reasonable things, and towards the other's physical features. The spirit realized with some surprise that he had never really taken a close look at Kaiba before; the man did tend to avoid all of Yugi's group like the plague, after all. The most striking thing about his face, Bakura concluded, was his eyes. Those blue eyes that were... that were... that were looking back at him.

"What are you staring at?" Kaiba demanded gruffly.

Beet red, Bakura reflected, is not an appropriate term. Beets are sort of purple, when you get down to it. He thanked the powers that be for giving him long hair to hide behind. "Nothing."

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**A/N**: (snicker) Naughty Kura-kun, drooling over Kaiba like that... Well, I guess after making you wait all this time, this chapter was pretty sucky. It was sort of just a vessel for a lemon... Which I had to take out anyway... Kind of like artichokes are just vessels for lemon butter sauce... ... ... Okay, was that so weird that it wasn't even funny? I can't tell; not enough sugar... Well, even if you'd rather read the version with the lemon (even though it's kind of crappy even that way), R&R?


	4. Rest and Relaxation

**Disclaimer**: Well, I now own five of the mangas, as well as anywhere between 500 and 1000 cards... Is that still not good enough for you? (sobs) Fine, it's not mine; (sticks tongue out at lawyers)

**A/N**: I'm back! Shocking, ne? I'll bet ya'll thought I'd abandoned you. No such luck; sorry It's been... hmm... over three months, hasn't it? (sweatdrop) Yeah, I suck, I know. But I'm gonna make it up to ya'll! I'm going to post all the rest of the chapters of this fic, probably what I should have done in the first place, partially 'cus it's one of the very last things I have to re-post and I'd really like to have this all done with, thank you very much. (shakes fist at Tribunal) Right, well, enjoy :)

/Blah/ Ryou thru link

(Bleh) Bakura thru link

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**Chapter Four**: Rest and Relaxation

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As they walked to Kaiba's the next day, Bakura noticed that Ryou seemed deep in thought.

He shoved him playfully. "Talk to me."

Ryou grinned sheepishly. "Oh, gomen... It's just, I was thinking about Kaiba-san."

His companion raised an eyebrow. "What about him?"

"Well... Isn't it sad? I mean, about how he has no friends, no one at all to care for him except Mokuba?"

Bakura shrugged. "That's how he wants it, you know. You're sweet, hikari, but I'm sure he isn't any more interested in being our friend than he is in being Yugi or Jonouchi's friend."

Ryou sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right..." And he changed the subject.

When they got to the mansion, Mokuba let them in. He looked even more excited than usual - if that was possible. "Hey guys, guess what? We're going to the beach! And Seto-kun said you could come!"

Bakura heard the quietist of 'hmph!'s, and glanced up to see Kaiba leaning against a banister at the top of the stair case that was directly in front of you as you came in the house. The spirit grinned, and looked away.

Ryou hadn't even noticed him. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. /A beach? Bakura, you aren't having dirty thoughts, are you?/

(Always, love.)

"We don't have any swim trunks, Mokuba," Ryou finally pointed out. /Don't say it.../

"Oh, that's okay. You can just borrow some of Seto-kun's." Bakura heard a second, slightly more audible 'hmph.'

"Well, if you're sure it's all right," he said reluctantly. "Why are you two going to the beach on a weekday, anyway?"

"Oh, Seto's doctor said he needs to rest more," he explained. "He has all this vacation time and he never uses it, so the doctor said that this year he has to use every day of it." Mokuba giggled. "Seto's not too happy about that."

Another 'hmph.' Bakura glanced up again. "Seto-san, you aren't coming down with a cough, are you?" he asked, a picture of innocence.

Kaiba looked startled, then annoyed. To the yami's infinite amusement, he stalked off.

/What was that about?/

(Oh, he's been up there 'hmph'ing at everything you two were saying. He's so much fun to play with...)

/Honestly.../

So before they could get their swim trunks, they had to track Kaiba down. When they found him Mokuba ran off, and Kaiba led them to a room. To Bakura's surprise, it wasn't his bedroom, but a somewhat smaller room that contained several chests of drawers, a couple wardrobes, and a full-length mirror.

(A room entirely dedicated to clothes... For Ra's sake...)

/Well, when you have this many rooms, I guess you have to do something with them./

Kaiba tossed Ryou a light blue pair of swim trunks and Bakura a dark green pair, then briefly explain where the nearest bathroom they could change in was and which cabinet the suntan lotion was in. Ryou thanked him and took off, but Bakura hesitated.

/Are you coming?/

(Yes, but there's something I need to take care of first. I might be a minute; go ahead.)

"What are you going to wear swimming, Kaiba?" Bakura asked nonchalantly.

"Not that I see why you should care, but I wasn't planning to actually swim," he snapped.

Bakura sighed in exasperation. "Can't you lighten up, Kaiba? Do you hate me so much just because I know your secret? Big deal. I'm not going to tell anyone and I don't think any less of you for it." Kaiba gaped at him. "Anyway, you're not going swimming because of your scars, right? I can fix them."

The brunette looking even more surprised. "How?" he asked warily.

Bakura tapped the sennen Ring he wore around his neck. "Magic. It won't hurt; I've done it on myself and Ryou plenty of times. You could go swimming with the rest of us."

Kaiba hesitated. "You know I don't believe in all this 'sennen magic' you and Yugi are always going on about, right?"

Bakura grinned. "Then give me a chance to prove its existence to you."

He paused a moment more, then shrugged. "Alright, fine," he agreed, and pulled his shirt off over his head.

Bakura stared for a moment. "Am I that ugly?" Kaiba demanded.

Bakura started to work on his right arm, his long hair once again hiding the fact that he had turned red. 'How is it that he can make me blush?' "No, you're not ugly at all; you're beautiful. You have nothing to be ashamed of," he said quietly.

"Shut up," Kaiba muttered, and Bakura rolled his eyes. He hoped his hikari wasn't offended that he had called another man beautiful, but seeing as he hadn't gotten any telepathic messages he supposed he was in the clear. For all his cold outward demeanor, Kaiba actually seemed to have major self-esteem problems; he could use the complement. And it was certainly true...

Bakura blinked. Was it now? It made him feel vaguely uneasy, noticing things like that about Kaiba, so he shrugged the thought off.

Once he was done, Kaiba looked himself over in the mirror. He didn't say anything for a moment, but the spirit could tell from his face that he was very pleased. "Thank you," he finally said, gruffly.

Bakura grinned. A thank-you from Seto Kaiba? That had to be a first... "You're welcome," he replied simply, and went off in search of the bathroom.

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Eventually, he found it. Upon entering, the spirit was pleasantly surprised to find that Ryou had already changed into his borrowed swimming trunks. "They look good on you," he commented, grinning.

Ryou just laughed, and leaned up to peck him on the lips. It turned in to a bit more than a peck, of course, but eventually they had to pull apart.

"What have I taught you about knocking?" the lighter of the two asked in a scolding tone, though he was smiling.

"You've taught me that it's much more boring when I do," Bakura replied solemnly.

Ryou rolled his eyes. "Could you help me put suntan lotion on my back?" he asked. "I figured we'd better put it on now since it takes half an hour to work, but I can't reach very well; I'll probably get it in my hair."

Bakura smirked. "I'd be glad to."

So he gathered up Ryou's hair and threw it all over said hikari's shoulder, before starting to massage the pale lotion into his skin. Bakura grinned again when his koi let out a little sigh of pleasure; over the time they'd been together he had gotten quite good at giving massages.

"Ryou-kun?" he said abruptly.

He blinked in surprise. "Yes?"

"You don't mind... what I did for Kaiba... do you?" he asked uncomfortably.

Ryou laughed. "Of course not! I think that, whether you actually realize it or not, you'd like to be his friend too."

"What makes you say that?" he demanded, shocked.

"Oh, come on," he said matter-of-factly. "Just look at how much you've been trying to help him. For most people it wouldn't be that remarkable, but in your case it's pretty impressive!" Bakura 'hmph'ed. "Now look who's doing it!" he added mischievously. "I was just kidding, you know."

"Well, I don't know about wanting to be friends..." he started loftily, then sighed, "but I do want to help him, I guess. Someone ought to."

Ryou shook his head in amusement. "You really are a nice person, yami-kun," he said quietly.

Bakura choked. "Me? Disgusting! I am _not nice_!" He abruptly went from massaging to tickling, to prove his point.

Ryou giggled, escaping to the other end of the bathroom. "If you say so," he teased.

Bakura growled in frustration, suddenly moving in. He pinned the other to the wall, kissing his neck. "I... say... so," he said firmly, between kisses.

/You're nice to me, you know./

(Well, you're an exception.)

"B-Bakura," he stuttered, as the yami moved down towards his chest. "We shouldn't be doing this... in someone else's bathroom..." He could feel Bakura smirk against his skin, and that was all the response he got.

"Are you guys making out in there?"

Ryou squeaked, and Bakura jumped. "Mokuba!" Ryou said weakly.

On the other side of the door, Mokuba snickered. "I'm not _that_ little, you know," he said. "And if you're not making out, then hurry up! Are you gonna be in there all night?" They heard him run off again without even waiting for a response.

Ryou grinned sheepishly. "I guess I should let you change," he said reluctantly.

Bakura kissed him briefly. "I suppose," he sighed. "Remember where we left off." Laughing again, Ryou slipped on his t-shirt and stepped out in to the hall.

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Mokuba was an amazing taskmaster; he even managed to get Kaiba to hurry up. In no time at all, they were piling in to the car. Mokuba sat in the front passenger seat while Ryou and Bakura squeezed into the back; 'squeezed' because instead of the usual limo, Kaiba had decided to ditch the chauffer and drive one of his sports cars. Both yami and hikari got the feeling that the CEO was embarrassed to let any of his staff see him taking a vacation, doctor's orders or not.

Bakura was just beginning to think that this would be a boring trip, when he noticed something that made his eyes light up. "Hey, you've got one of those radion things!"

"Radio, yami-kun," Ryou said automatically. "Hey, what're you- ahh!"

Bakura (who was sitting behind Kaiba) had reached up between the front seats and pushed a random button. An oldie of the pop-rock-ish variety suddenly blared over the speakers.

Kaiba shot him a death glare, and switched the radio off. "Ask before you touch anything in my car, understand?" he snapped.

Bakura frowned. "That was a good song... Okay, fine. Can I touch the buttons on the radio?"

"No."

"Fine." Suddenly, the radio came back on, apparently of its own accord.

Kaiba jumped, thankfully keeping control of the car, and Bakura dissolved into a fit of laughter. "Millennium magic is a wonderful thing. I didn't have to touch it, Kaiba; you can't deny that."

"..." Kaiba said, as he switched it off again.

Mokuba giggled. "You two are like an old married couple," he declared.

This time Kaiba almost did briefly lose control of the car, and Bakura shot a glance a Ryou to see what he thought of that remark. Said hikari was laughing.

"Hey!" he said irritably, tickling his koi again, though secretly he was relieved. He supposed he was just being paranoid; Ryou wouldn't be jealous just because he was being friendly with someone - though Mokuba was right, this was friendly for him. Kaiba was the only other one he seemed to be able to be himself around; he had an image to keep up with Ryou's friends. He _knew_ Ryou would be happy if he made a friend he could be close with like Ryou was close with the pharaoh, so why did this worry him so much?

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Thankfully, they reached the beach in less than an hour. Bakura played with Mokuba while Ryou went off swimming by himself for a little while. Glancing toward the beach, Ryou caught sight of Kaiba walking along the edge of the water. He decided he looked lonely, so he swam back to the shore.

"Hi," he said, catching up. Kaiba just looked at him.

Inspiration struck. "Hey, this is a nice beach. Why aren't there any other people here?"

The taller of the two smirked slightly. "I called ahead and told them to clear the beach by the time we got here. Thankfully they complied."

Ryou raised an eyebrow. "It must come in handy, being rich and famous and everything," he observed.

Kaiba shrugged. "If you like headaches and dealing with mindless office drones all day, it's wonderful."

He couldn't help but smile. Ah, Kaiba was opening up about his job - not an everyday occurrence. Maybe there was a chance yet. "Say, aren't you going to go swimming? My yami didn't take care of your scars for nothing, you know."

He looked startled for a moment, then rolled his eyes. "I guess I should have known that he'd tell you about all that, since you're together," he commented.

"You don't mind, do you?" he asked sheepishly.

Kaiba shrugged again. "I suppose not."

"How about us being together; does that bother you?"

He glanced at him, startled. "No."

Ryou beamed. "Oh, good! Now then, you're not getting out of swimming by changing the subject, I'm afraid." Kaiba winced. "The water feels good, honestly."

He shook his head firmly. "Sorry, but I'd rather stick to swimming pools. Salt water isn't my thing."

The white-haired boy grinned. "You can swim, right?"

"Of course I can! I have an indoor pool at home," he said indignantly.

"Then get in!" Ryou said, giving him a playful shove.

Unfortunately, the brunette tripped - and fell in to the water with a splash. A particularly large wave carried him past Ryou a short distance, where he came to a sputtering halt.

Ryou blinked. "Oh dear... Um, sorry?"

Kaiba carefully pushed his hair out of his eyes. Then, to Ryou's infinite surprise, he laughed. He actually sounded amused, too; it wasn't his usual heartless laugh. "You're going to get it for that," he said, grinning.

His laughter was contagious; Ryou couldn't help but snicker. "You have seaweed in your hair, Kaiba-sama," he said, then took off into the water at top speed. Once he was out a safe distance, he turned and waved. "You're gonna have to swim if you want to get me now!"

Kaiba smirked. "Be that way," he called back simply - and started swimming in his direction, with much more grace now that he was actually doing so on purpose.

Ryou blanched. 'What have I done?' he wondered, then laughed softly and started swimming away as fast as possible.

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**A/N**: Bwuha! Isn't the image of Seto in a swim suit just lovely? (sparkly eyes) Also as lovely as Ryou and Bakura in swim suits... (evil grin) Who'd have thought Bakura liked oldies, huh? Sorry; I just couldn't resist. Oh, and did I mention that, despite the fact that I'm posting a whole bunch of chapters at once, I wouldn't think you were weird in any way if you just _happened_ to want to review each of them...? (huuuuge grin)


	5. Twenty Four Hour Things

**Disclaimer**: Oh, and I forgot, I have the soundtrack too! The series and the movie! And speaking of soundtracks, everybody should go out and get the Freaky Friday soundtrack; it's really good... Okay, okay, Yu-gi-oh isn't mine; it's Kazuki Takahashi's. There, I said it. Happy now? ... Oh. Freaky Friday isn't mine either; that belongs to Disney. And I don't know who Kingdom Hearts belongs to, but it's not me. Nhh...

**A/N**: Hmm, what to say about this chapter... Fluffy-ness! And I'm drinking hot chocolate :) Yummy chocolate... I like the powder that comes in the cans better though; they never put quite enough of the chocolate in the packets, but two packets wouldn't mix in... Trust me, I've tried O.o ...Yeah, this thing was supposed to be for my thoughts on the chapter, and it turned in to my thoughts on hot chocolate O.O Typical...

/Blah/ Ryou thru link

(Bleh) Bakura thru link

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**Chapter Five**: One of Those 24-Hour Things

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When they went to Kaiba's place on Thursday, they were greeted by a servant. "Where's Mokuba?" Bakura asked, noting the butler's worried appearance.

"He is visiting with his brother," he informed them. "The elder Master Kaiba has taken ill, I'm afraid."

The couple exchanged surprised glances. "Can we go see them?" Ryou asked. The man nodded, and led them up to Kaiba's bedroom.

The room was a mess, as usual. Mokuba greeted them with a small smile and a quiet 'hello.' Bakura leaned over the bed to get a closer look at Kaiba.

"Dear Ra; you look horrible!" he commented.

Kaiba glared weakly. "Well, you're not exactly a sight for sore eyes," he snapped hoarsely.

He grinned. "Good; you can't be that bad then."

"What does he have?" Ryou asked worriedly.

"Some kind of cold," Mokuba explained. "The doctor said it's just one of those 24-hour things, but that it'd be bad while it lasted."

"Is there anything we can do to help?"

(Ryou! Why do you always go and volunteer us for stuff?)

He sweatdropped. /Because it's good for you./

"Well," Mokuba said thoughtfully, "I guess you guys could stay in here and talk to him. And someone needs to make sure he takes his medicine at the end of this hour." Kaiba groaned, and his little brother giggled. "And make sure there's nothing he wants and stuff..."

Kaiba groaned again. "I'm not the one who needs a babysitter here," he commented, then broke down into a coughing fit.

Mokuba grinned. "Then they can take turns; I don't need two babysitters!"

Ryou nodded. "Sounds good to me," he agreed, absentmindedly handing Kaiba a drink. "So, what would you rather do, yami-kun? Take care of Kaiba-sama or Mokuba-chan?"

(You mean which do I not want to do less?) "I guess I'll deal with Kaiba," he grumbled.

Mokuba beamed. "All right then!" He grabbed Ryou's wrist and started to drag him out of the room. "Come on, Ryou! Help me beat the next level of Kingdom Hearts!"

Kaiba finally managed to stop coughing, and he glared at Bakura again. "What's this 'deal with' thing?"

Bakura chuckled, pulling up the desk chair without waiting for it to be offered. "Sorry; couldn't resist."

He stared at the ceiling, looking annoyed. "You know, this is probably all you and Ryou's fault. I'll bet I'm sick because of the beach yesterday."

Bakura scoffed. "Yeah, but you had fun, didn't you?"

Kaiba shrugged. "I guess."

"So what's there to gripe about? If it hadn't been for us, you wouldn't have gotten to go swimming, which would have been boring, and if that's the reason you got sick today, then without us you'd be working today. And whatever you may say, that can't be that much fun. You need to lighten up; I may be a sadistic lunatic, but even I know how to have fun."

The brunette rolled his eyes. "I don't have time for fun," he said icily. "Do you know what would happen to my company if I was absent for a whole day? Neither do I, but I guess I'm going to find out. All the people who work there have the intelligence of ferns..."

Bakura stared. "You mean to tell me that you've never taken a full day off before?"

"Of course not! Yesterday I was just taking the afternoon off, and even then I got some work done over the internet until Mokuba came home. I've always gone to work when I was sick until now; I think I'm going to fire this new doctor..."

The spirit, who was really starting to warm up to this doctor, rolled his eyes. "Do you know how bad working like that is for you? You could die at forty-five, and then your company would be in the hands of the fern-minded employees seven days a week!"

Kaiba moaned. "Now if I could just fire you," he said under his breath.

Bakura shook his head in annoyance. "Oh, go to sleep."

"I would if I could, but I keep coughing," he said, in a tone that suggested automatic irritation at being ordered to do anything.

"I could magic you to sleep, you know," Bakura offered, gesturing at the Ring.

The CEO eyed it uncertainly. "Okay, I guess... But if you can put me to sleep, can't you just heal me?"

He shook his head. "No; it's better to let it go away on its own. But at least I can do this. Sweet dreams..."

Kaiba looked dazed for a moment, then his eyelids fluttered closed. Bakura allowed a small smile to grace his features; he certainly did look peaceful when he was asleep... Abruptly he felt himself blush, and he looked away.

What was it about Kaiba that made him feel so awkward, anyway? he wondered irritably. He couldn't figure it out... Oh well. It was a good thing he hadn't given Kaiba much time to think about his question; because the truth was that with a little effort he could heal the whole sickness. But after such a procedure the one who had been healed really ought to rest, and Bakura knew that the first thing he would do would be to run off and make sure no one had blown up his precious Kaiba Corp. That man really needed to take better care of himself...

He found he eyes staying back to Kaiba's face. His features were still hard and determined, even softened with sickness and sleep. Delicate feather-like eyelashes... One of his eyes, though, was partially covered with the tuff of hair that always hung down into his face. Bakura wondered vaguely if that ever got annoying, but it looked nice so he supposed it was a good thing he put up with it...

He went even redder than before, mentally slapping himself. And what was this fascination with Kaiba's body? His eyes, his face, his... chest... Bakura ran a hand through his hair in frustration. Ra damn it all... 'Okay, fine, so he's a very attractive guy,' he thought, trying to be reasonable. 'End of story. Good. Okay. I really need something to take my mind off of this...'

(Ryou!)

/Waahhh! Gods, are you trying to give me a heart attack? Everything okay?/

(Yeah, it's fine. Sorry; I just wanted something to do.) He hesitated for a moment, trying to sense what his hikari was doing. He was playing that game Mokuba loved so much, but he was starting to lose now. Multitasking could be hard sometimes. (I guess I shouldn't bug you right now.)

/Well, if you're really bored.../

(Nah, I'll just borrow one of Kaiba's books.)

But this was easier said than done. The guy didn't seem to have any books that you read for fun, manga or otherwise. All the books in his room were techno-type stuff, and he didn't have a TV either. There was his laptop... Bakura debated long and hard about whether using it was worth the risk to his life, only to discover that said laptop was password protected. So in the end he wound up staring at Kaiba again, trying not to think.

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After about an hour, Ryou came in. He glanced at Kaiba, seeing that he was sleeping, and whispered, "Mokuba said it's time for his medicine. I'll take over for a while, okay?"

Bakura smiled, standing up to give him a quick kiss. "Thank you," he said softly. "How's Mokuba?"

Ryou shifted uncomfortably. "Well... Just don't let him talk you in to giving him any pocky, because he's already had some."

Bakura grinned. "Will do," he replied. His hikari's presence was... so reassuring. This thing with Kaiba must just be one of those passing interests... Suddenly he laughed. Yeah. One of those 24-hour things.

"What's so funny?" Ryou asked quizzically.

"Nothing," he said simply. "Well, have fun; I'm sure your job is much less dangerous than mine at this point. Oh, and I have a sleeping spell on him; I guess I'd better take that off..." Kaiba's eye started to open as he walked out the door.

The CEO shot the other boy a calculating look. "You're Ryou, aren't you?"

Ryou giggled. "Yes," he agreed. "Funny; as long as we keep our mouths shut no one else can tell us apart."

Kaiba shrugged. "It's something about the eyes..."

Ryou busied himself with the medicine jar sitting on the nightstand. "Wow, this stuff smells awful!" he commented, handing a cup of it to Kaiba.

"Believe me, I know," he said moodily, drinking it a fast as possible - though that was nothing to downing the whole glass of water in one gulp. Ryou raised an eyebrow.

"You know, if you didn't over-work yourself so much you probably wouldn't get sick as easily," he said conversationally, sitting down.

"And tell me, how does opening you mouths help people tell you and your yami apart?" Kaiba asked dryly. "Does he tell you everything I say, or what?"

He blushed. "Well, not exactly," he explained. "You see, we sort of have a mental link, through the Ring. I can hear what he's thinking, when I want, and he can hear what I'm thinking."

Kaiba blanched. To have someone able to look in on your thoughts at any moment... "Doesn't that get, well, annoying?" he asked weakly.

Ryou laughed. "No... I suppose it seems like it would, doesn't it? But no, it doesn't."

He shook his head in amazement. "You two must really like each other a lot to not be bothered by something like that," he muttered.

Ryou smiled a little sadly. "Haven't you ever been in love, Kaiba-sama?"

He shrugged. "Never had time. And stop calling me 'sama;' that's what my workers call me. It gets annoying."

"Okay," he said cheerfully. "And I know that between yami-kun and I this must be getting really annoying, but you should make time. Why do you work so hard, anyway?"

"To make sure I'll always be able to provide a good future for Mokuba and myself," he said matter-of-factly. "Why else?"

"But you've been doing that for years, haven't you?" he asked. "So just when do you plan to start taking it easy and enjoy this future you've set up?"

Kaiba had no answer for that one. "Just drop it," he snapped.

Ryou simple smiled. "Whatever you want," he said complacently. They were silent for a moment. "Do you want something to do?"

"No," Kaiba replied. "I think I'll just go back to sleep." And with that, he closed his eyes.

Ryou watched him as his breathing gradually slowed, having an inner debate with himself. Finally, after making sure his mind was closed off, he leaned forward and gently kissed Kaiba on the lips.

After he pulled away, he stared at the other's face a moment more. He felt bad about having done that... but not as bad as he thought he would have. He couldn't hide from his feelings forever, and he suspected that Bakura wouldn't be able to either.

Ryou sighed. 'Oh well... I guess I'll just have to see what happens.'

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**A/N**: (google eyes) I have NO idea where that came from... But I think it worked out well, ne? Bad Ryou! Bad! Would you believe I wrote this whole chapter in one morning? No joke. I'm so proud of myself ;) Well den... R&R!!!!!


	6. Nobody Sleeps at Sleepovers

**Disclaimer**: Have you ever tried scrambled egg with melted cheese on top? It's sooo good...

**A/N**: Really it is. I just finished one; I'd make one of those little manga heart thingies if I could figure out how. Hmm... So, I'll bet you're all ready to kill me after the last chapter... At least, I hope so ;) It kinda was the desired effect. But fear not, because the whole issue... is NOT resolved in this chapter!!! If anything, it's made worse. Mwuhahaha... I'm so evil, aren't I?

/Blah/ Ryou thru link

(Bleh) Bakura thru link

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**Chapter Six**: Nobody Sleeps At Sleepovers

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Seto Kaiba sighed, taking a moment to massage his temples before answering the phone. Only 7:30, and he could already feel a head-ache coming on. He had gone to work early since he had missed yesterday, to discover a huge pile of paperwork on his desk. He was never going to sort through it all, though, if he kept getting so many damn phone calls.

"Moshi moshi; Seto Kaiba speaking," he ground out. 'You had better be a very important person, or I'll see that you're fired...'

"Hi, big bro!" Mokuba said cheerfully on the other end. "Sorry to have to call you at work, but you were gone by the time I got up."

The CEO's frosty mood warmed a little. "Good morning, Mokuba," he said. "What is it; I'm kind of busy today..."

"Well, I was wondering if I could have a sleep-over. I want to have the whole gang over, okay?"

Kaiba's jaw dropped open involuntarily. "The whole gang?" he repeated, dazed.

"Uh-huh! So it's okay then?"

"N-no, it is most certainly not okay! I..." But then he hesitated. It was strange, he reflected, that they could both take him being gone before Mokuba was even awake so casually. He hardly ever saw the kid some days... Maybe he ought to give him this one thing, in return for putting up with him. He was such a sucker... "Well, it's not okay, but go ahead anyway," he amended.

"Yes!" Mokuba said, with feeling. "Thank you so much, nii-san!"

He smiled. "You're welcome. Well, you'd better be getting off to school, so I'll see you this afternoon."

"Okay! Bye!" And he hung up.

Kaiba sighed again. What had he gotten himself into?

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On Friday, Ryou and Bakura were greeted by the butler again. "Konnichiwa," Ryou said formally, while Bakura rolled his eyes. "Is Kaiba feeling better?"

He nodded. "Yes. He was able to go to work again today. Young Master Kaiba is in his room, making some phone calls." So they went upstairs.

Ryou knocked on the door. "Come in," Mokuba called. Sure enough, he was on the phone. "Listen, Jonouchi, I should go; Ryou and his yami are here. Yeah. Bye!"

Bakura raised an eyebrow, lounging again the wall. "So, what's up?"

"Seto-kun said I could have a sleepover!" he gushed. "Everybody's invited, including you guys. You want to stay for it?"

Ryou and Bakura exchanged glances, both thinking the same thing: sleepovers with the whole gang tended to get rather R-rated. "I'd love to; I need to call my dad and let him know, but I'm sure he won't mind," Ryou said carefully. "I don't suppose you've... ever had a sleep-over with the whole gang before, have you?"

He giggled. "Oh, sure. They always save the nasty stuff for after I go to bed." Ryou just stared, wondering - not for the first time - where he got this stuff.

Shortly after Ryou talked to his dad, the others started to arrive. They congregated in the vast living room around several platters of chips and dip, each with a can of pop. "So, what're we doin'?" Jonouchi asked, once they were all there.

(He just _had_ to ask, didn't he?) Ryou laughed under his breath, knowing exactly what he meant, as Mokuba grinned.

"Well, who's up for Kingdom Hearts?"

"Hey, you have that game now? Cool!"

Bakura groaned, as the others gathered around the Play Station. "I think I'll sit this one out, thanks." Ryou nodded in agreement.

"You don't know what you're missing," Mokuba assured them.

"Oh, believe me, we do," Ryou said firmly.

"Well, how about this then? Did you two bring your decks?" The couple nodded. "Then let's have a little mini-tournament! I'll duel Ryou, winner duels Bakura, winner of that duels Seto-kun. What do you think?"

The two exchanged glances. "You plan on telling your brother about this... when?" Bakura inquired.

Mokuba just grinned. "Oh, don't worry; I'll get around to it eventually."

Ryou shook his head. "You've been hanging out with us too long. Alright then, let's duel."

Once they had shuffled and drawn, Bakura casually looked over Mokuba's shoulder at his hand. (Okay, he's got a-)

/Yami-kun!/

(What?)

/... Look, have you ever heard of playing fair?/

(Ooh, harsh... no.)

/I didn't think so./

(Okay, fine, I won't tell you his cards. But from your hand, I'd say you should play-)

/Yami-kun!/

(Hey, pharaoh does it all the time!)

/Yes, but pharaoh hasn't seen his opponent's cards before he advises _his_ hikari, now has he?/

(... No.) Ryou grinned.

As it turned out, Ryou won the game just fine without his yami's help. "Good duel," he said amicably, as Mokuba gathered up his cards. But then he frowned. "I have a question..."

"Huh?"

"Well... I'm supposed to duel my yami now, right? But, well, we both use the same deck."

Mokuba considered that for a moment, then beamed. "No problem! I'll just get Seto-kun to loan one of you some cards! I'm sure he has all the ones in your deck in his collection; we could make an exact copy. Can I borrow it for a minute?" Ryou nodded, handing his deck over, and the younger boy ran upstairs with it.

There was a knock on his study door, and Kaiba winced. He hoped for the knocker's sake that it wasn't one of Mokuba's friends; he had barricaded himself in here for the specific reason of avoiding them. "Come in," he said tersely.

Mokuba came bounding in. "Do you have all these cards?" he demanded, thrusting a deck under his older brother's nose.

Kaiba blinked, taking the cards. That was abrupt... "Whose are these?" he inquired, as he looked through them. It was a pretty good deck, he had to admit...

"Ryou's," Mokuba replied. "You see, he and his yami want to duel, but they only have one deck. So we were wondering if you had the cards to build another one just like it that they could borrow for a while."

He raised an eyebrow. Well, naturally he had all these cards, but... "Okay, fine," he agreed, "but I'm coming down to make sure nothing happens to them."

Mokuba giggled. "Ryou wouldn't hurt your cards!"

"I'm sure he wouldn't; it's the mutt I don't trust," he said darkly.

A few minutes later, the two siblings came down the stairs together. "Well, look who's come down to earth to join us," Jonouchi said sarcastically.

"Not because I wanted to, I assure you - puppy," Kaiba snapped. That ritual taken care of, he joined Yami for a brief session of looking anywhere but each other. Meanwhile, Mokuba handed Bakura the duplicate deck.

"Thanks for lending us your cards, Kaiba-san," Ryou said, smiling. Kaiba just nodded, but he noted the slightly less formal title. Good memory...

(Well, this should be interesting,) Bakura commented. (It's all down to how the cards shuffle, I guess.)

/Indeed,/ Ryou agreed. /Don't go easy on me, okay?/

The corner of the yami's mouth twitched. (Don't worry; I won't. But I suppose we should shut our minds off, to make it 'fair.')

Ryou almost chuckled out loud. /Yes, you're right./

As it turned out, Bakura was happier that he'd made the request than he thought he'd be. He had only made it to make his hikari happy, but he found his mind constantly straying to Kaiba. It's just, he was sitting right there, watching... He glanced over at him, to find that the CEO was looking right at him. He blanched, and hurriedly looked away.

What was this?! he fumed in his head, slapping down cards practically at random. He wasn't really getting a, a crush, was he? That would be... He mentally shuddered. Well, that would just be terrible. 'Okay, I can't keep ignoring this; it'll drive me crazy. I have to think this out logically...'

He loved Ryou. He was absolutely positive of that. Crush or no crush, Ryou was still one of the most desirable beings in the world to him. But Kaiba was pretty desirable too... Well, there was only one thing he could do, he decided firmly. Forget this. He couldn't let some passing interest in a guy who probably didn't even like him back ruin everything he had with his hikari.

Then he risked another glance at Kaiba, and winced. Well, maybe he couldn't forget it. But he would make sure that nothing ever happened. After this baby-sitting thing was over, he would just stay away from Kaiba; easy enough. Given enough time of not seeing him, he would get over this; he just had to...

Ryou stared at his koi quizzically, before doling out yet another devastating blow to his life points. 'The way he's playing, I could win with my eyes closed,' he mused. And he knew why, of course. Bakura was obviously thinking about a certain brown-haired millionaire... He sighed. This was so awful. They had both fallen for him, but what were they supposed to do about it? He just hoped his yami would get his feelings sorted out soon so they could talk about it. Of course, who knew whether he would actually talk to him about it; until he found out that Bakura felt the same way he didn't think _he'd_ be able to say anything on the subject. In a morbid kind of way, he was curious as to what the spirit would do. Abruptly, he looked down at the playing field, and his eyes widened. He was losing concentration too now; he'd better stop it or his friends would get suspicious...

Meanwhile, Kaiba watched them both in amazement, completely oblivious of their thoughts. What the hell did they think they were doing? He had hardly ever seen two such crappy duelists; he couldn't believe that they had such a good deck when they played like beginners. Well, Ryou played like a beginner; Bakura played like he thought it was solitaire. Was he drunk...? And judging from their friends' dazed expressions, they were just as shocked as he was.

After the most bizarre fifteen minutes of dueling history, Ryou won. Bakura sighed in relief. "Well, looks like you get to duel Kaiba," he commented, sounding like he considered himself the lucky one.

The CEO blinked. "E-excuse me?" Jonouchi snickered.

Mokuba sweatdropped. "Um... I can explain everything?"

While the two brothers started bickering, Ryou decided to amuse himself, even though he supposed it was rather cruel of him. /So... what was that all about?/ he asked casually, now that they'd re-opened their minds.

(Um... what?)

/Oh... You know I'm never gonna let you live this down, right?/

(NANI?!)

/Just kidding, love./

"Fine," Kaiba ground out, speaking to Mokuba. "I'll duel him, this time, but I'd prefer if next time you set me up as a tournament prize, you tell me first." His brother just giggled, and he rolled his eyes.

Ryou winced. He had been hoping Kaiba would refuse; now his nervousness would show even more. He'd better come up with some kind of alibi for when they started questioning him; maybe he could tell everyone that he was feeling a little ill? "Sorry about this," he said to Kaiba, as they drew their hands.

He shrugged. "Whatever. Let's just make it fast; I have work to do."

A few minutes into the duel, Ryou reached a conclusion. Yes, it was as bad as he was afraid it was going to be; he was doomed. And he had thought his yami hadn't been paying attention... He just couldn't stop thinking about that kiss yesterday. That was the sort of thing a yami was supposed to do, not a hikari. Regardless of the fact that he liked him too, Bakura would be furious if he found out. To say nothing of Kaiba himself... He peered through his bangs at the brunette, sighed quietly, and looked away.

Kaiba, unfortunately, didn't suffer from any kind of distraction; he noticed. "What is the matter with you?" he demanded suddenly. "You're so twitchy; you and your yami both. I can't believe you actually beat my little brother playing like this."

Ryou grimaced; good going... "I, uh, I'm not feeling quite well just now," he replied sheepishly.

Kaiba gave him one long, thoughtful look, then nodded. "Well, all right then. If you want any medicine Mokuba can show you where it is." The white-haired boy relaxed, relived that he'd bought it.

The CEO glanced at the playing field. "...Oh, and I attack your life points with Vampire Lord; I win." Ryou blinked, as Kaiba stood up. "Now, I've really got to get back to work. Please try not to bother me unless it's actually important, all of you." And with that, he marched back upstairs.

There was a moment of silence. "Alright, what's your secret?" Jonouchi demanded, the instant they heard Kaiba's office door close.

Ryou paled. Oh no, here it came... "Um... huh?"

"Oh, come on; ya know what I mean! What did you do to Kaiba to make him so polite 'n stuff?" Ryou almost fainted from relief. "I mean, all he said was 'I win'! When he beats me, I get a fifteen-minute long puppy lecture!"

"Eh heh... Wow, I never noticed!" he replied cheerfully, lying through his teeth.

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At about midnight, Mokuba was just going upstairs to get some sleep, when to everyone's amazement, Kaiba was seen dragging himself downstairs. He ruffled his little brother's hair in passing, looking a bit out of it.

Needless to say, they all stopped what they were doing at stared at him. "You're still up?" Ryou remarked, shocked. "What are you doing?"

The brunette look at him owlishly for a moment. "Getting coffee," he grunted.

Jonouchi smirked. "Dun tell me you've been doing work stuff this whole time!" he gloated. "And here we were, playing games, piggin' out... Better me than you, dude!"

Kaiba merely glared, and continued making his zombie-like way into the kitchen.

A few minute later, he returned, third cup of espresso in his hand. "Hey, would you like to play Truth or Dare with us?" Anzu asked, not unkindly.

He actually managed a disdainful glance, but decided an argument with the friendship queen was not something he wanted right now. "No," he said simply, and started up the stairs.

Jonou's eyes, however, had developed an evil glint. "What, are you _a chicken_? Wow, I never thought the great Seto Kaiba'd be afraid of a little game of Truth or Dare! Bwuk bwuk!"

Slowly, he turned. "Puppies are supposed to whine, not cluck; or didn't anyone tell you?" he replied icily.

He just grinned. "Oh, you see, I was just telling you what kinda noise you're supposed ta make, since you're a chicken and all."

The air between them practically crackled. "Fine," Kaiba snapped. "I'll play your bakka game, but only so I can dare you to do something really horrible..."

Jonouchi sneered. "Knock yourself out; you're the one with the gigantic ego," he mocked. "So, should I start then?" He was in such a scary mood that no one dared say no. "Kaiba, truth or dare!"

"Dare," he scoffed.

"I dare you... To get us all the beers we want, for the rest of the night!"

He blanched. "Absolutely not! I will not have a bunch of drunken hentais running around my house!"

"Bwuk bwuk..."

He looked as though steam might start coming out of his ears at any moment. "Fine! ...bastard..."

"Awright! Get me a beer. Actually, get me two."

The game progressed swiftly from there; the beer helped. Within half an hour Bakura had already lost track of how much alcohol he had had; he decided that at this point he was probably drunk enough to try his idea. Once it was his turn again, he glanced at Kaiba. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"Kiss the one person in this room that you'd like to be with the most - only, it has to be a boy."

He stared. "You are so incredibly drunk," he finally choked out, the only one who hadn't had a single beer.

"Bwuk, hic, bwuk..." Jonouchi commented, and dissolved into a fit of giggles. Now it was Bakura's turn to stare.

"Okay, fine," Kaiba growled, and while everyone watched he grabbed Ryou by the collar and kissed him fiercely. After a few moments he pulled away, wiping his lips on his sleeve.

Bakura gaped at him, while Ryou blinked rapidly. Kaiba glared at everyone as if to say, 'that did not just happen,' before going back to his seat.

Shortly thereafter, however, things began going downhill. It started when Jonouchi passed out. First Yami and Yugi then Anzu and Mai 'mysteriously disappeared.' Ryou fell asleep - or passed out; it was hard to tell. Finally the only ones left in the room were Kaiba, Bakura and Honda. Honda decided that being in the same room as two of the scariest people he knew - while one of them was drunk, no less - without the gang to back him up was not a good thing, and he wandered off muttering something about catching some sleep.

"Good riddance," Kaiba muttered, once he had left. He glanced over at Bakura, and raised an eyebrow; the spirit had apparently fallen asleep while he hadn't been paying attention. His lighter half had slumped over and was now resting his head on the other's shoulder. They made a cute picture, he reflected, if only he pretended that Ryou was a girl.

With a quiet sigh he got up, trying not to think of all the work he had missed by doing this. By the time he passed the couch the two white-haired boys were on he was already so deep in thought that he didn't even notice the hand grab hold of his trench coat, until he was jerked backward. He nearly had a heart attack right there.

"What was that for?!" he snapped, glowering at Bakura.

The yami just treated him to a Cheshire grin. "Going so soon?"

"Yes, actually..." He was silent for a moment, then he looked away. "Um... Sorry I kissed him," he muttered, gesturing to Ryou. "I suppose I got a little carried away; I was... annoyed."

"Oh, no problem; I thought it was sexy."

He paled. "W-what?" he managed to choke.

"Yeah... didn't you?"

Near heart attack, take two. "All right, that's it! You are highly intoxicated; you should really go to bed."

"But what if I don't want to?"

He scowled. "Oh, feel free to do what you want. But if you bother me while _I'm_ trying to sleep, you'll be spending the rest of the evening outside."

He tried to cackle, though it didn't quiet work. "Yes ma'am!" he replied solemnly, and passed out.

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**A/N**: Yay, almost done! If I remember correctly, there are only... two more chapters... hmm... (doesn't even know how many chapters long her own fic is)... Okay, I want someone to write an Ocean's Eleven fic. There's no section for them! Not on fanfiction net or either! I just saw Ocean's Twelve yesterday, which was seriously awesome, and now I want to read fanfics, except there aren't any T.T It's got Brad Pitt in it, but there are no fanfics of it! How wrong is that? Er, R&R?


	7. To Forget

**Disclaimer**: Hi there! I'm out right now, but you can leave a message after the beep... My advice, though: don't hold your breath... Okay, okay, not mine, and if you try to sue me, the best thing you're likely to get is a maggot-infested bag of peanut butter things :P Yes, maggots; don't ask.

**A/N**: Ah yes, I will never forget the day when JessicaKittyDemon was playing a video game at my house and scarfing mini Reeses, when suddenly she looked down and said, 'Hey, what's this...?' Classic, truly classic. I've always been a bit paranoid of the Reeses in my house since then though... Have you noticed how many of my author's notes center around food? (sweatdrop)

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**Chapter Seven**: To Forget

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At around eight the next morning, everybody dragged themselves home, mostly in order to catch some more sleep. Nobody had hangovers courteously of millennium magic (except for the first few minutes after they woke up, naturally...), but they were tired. Kaiba explained that he'd like some family time with Mokuba in the morning, but that he'd like it if Ryou and Bakura could come back after lunch so he could get some more work done. The two babysitters didn't have any problem with this, as they were hoping to spend a _different_ kind of time with each other.

The moment they had reached the privacy of Ryou's bedroom, Bakura came back out of the Ring. They didn't even bother with the usual greetings; the darker one caught Ryou in a deep kiss, pushing him down onto the bed.

"I wish you could drop out of school," Bakura complained, once they'd separated.

Ryou rolled his eyes. "Join the club. But there's a break coming up, if that helps."

He smiled. "A bit..." He leaned down for another kiss.

After a few moments, Ryou gently pushed him away. Bakura arched an eyebrow, and his light smiled apologetically. "Listen," he said awkwardly, "I need... Well, I mean, I really want... I need sleep." Bakura gaped at him. "I'm sorry, but, you know, we were all up pretty late last night, and it would really suck if I fainted in the middle of something, wouldn't it?"

The spirit sighed, though he couldn't help grinning just a little at that last bit. "You sure?"

"Hey, we'll have all of Sunday; this is our last day babysitting Mokuba..." He decided to have pity, and gave his koi one last kiss. Bakura deepened it, moving from his mouth to his jaw line, to trailing kisses up and down his throat. For a moment Ryou considered changing his mind, but then he pushed him away again.

Bakura laughed. "Okay, fine; I guess you mortals do tend to get tired easily... Sleep well."

Ryou smiled as his yami gathered him up in his arms to sleep as well, but inside he felt like he was torn in half. Truth be told, he wasn't really _that_ tired. It was just that, to be with Bakura when he was in love with someone else too - when he had kissed someone else, for goodness sake! - made him feel so guilty. He wondered glumly how he could ever be with either of them without missing the other one. They needed to sort this out, before he had some kind of nervous break-down, but he was just too chicken to bring the subject up...

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Kaiba stared out his window, completely absorbed. He chose to ignore, for now, the incessant beeping of various reminders on his computer, and the modest (twelve-inch) stack of business-related papers begging for his attention. The Word documents and Excel files, the lists and charts and diagrams, and the many, many browser windows were forgotten in favor of the game of hide-and-seek occurring on the mansion's front lawn.

It was amusing; the entire time he had been watching, Bakura hadn't been it once. Kaiba supposed that was one of the advantages of being an ancient dark spirit; he could melt into the shadows until the CEO couldn't see him even though he knew where he was. He found it very... fascinating.

Kaiba shook his head. What was he thinking, anyway? Since childhood he had vowed to let no one in, to not show weakness to anybody. He hadn't been able to shut out Mokuba, so his brother became an exception. But that was supposed to be all he needed; one single person to be himself around. Yet there was something about those two... They treated him like a real person, he supposed. Not like a person who needed mental help, like Yugi-tachi, or like a person who could kick their asses, like his employees. Was it possible that he... wanted to be _friends_ with them?

He shook his head, turning back to his work. He simply could not let that happen. He didn't need friends, nor did he have the time for them. He'd made it eighteen years without a hitch, after all.

He glanced at the top reminder, and blinked. Time for dinner already? But it was true; he could hear one of the servants calling Mokuba and his sitters inside. He got up with a sigh; it wasn't exactly as if he was on a roll here, and he was hungry, so he might as well go down.

At the table, Ryou and Mokuba talked enthusiastically; Kaiba listened but as usual he made no attempt to join in. Then, to his shock, Bakura actually tried to engage him in conversation.

"So, will you be needing us to come over again tomorrow?" he asked casually.

Kaiba glanced up at him; he lounged in the chair like he lived there and shoveled down food as though it could run away at any moment. He felt the corner of his mouth twitch in amusement. "Not particularly."

He shrugged. "'K. Maybe we'll drop by sometime, just to hang out."

"I'm sure Mokuba would like that," he said simply, though in fact he thought he would like that, too.

Then Bakura paused in his vicious attack on the food to look up at him. "I need talk to you for a minute after we're done eating."

He shrugged, his equivalent of an 'okay.'

So after the meal, while Ryou and Mokuba ran out to the living room to check out the black-haired boy's newest video game, Bakura and Kaiba found a room where they could have some privacy. Once they were behind closed doors, Kaiba raised an eyebrow. "So, what's so secret that my servants couldn't even hear it?" he inquired.

Bakura, to his surprise, looked awkward. "I'm just curious... I know Mokuba would enjoy it if we came to visit you two... But would you?"

Kaiba grimaced. The white-haired yami could catch him off guard even when he _wasn't_ intoxicated, he reflected. "Well... I wouldn't mind," he said tersely.

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Oh, cut it out. Would you like it, or wouldn't you?"

He sighed, exasperated. "Fine! I... guess I would, a little. Why do you care?" Something most people would probably call a conscious was telling him to shut the fuck up before he lost his only potential friend, but he studiously ignored it.

Bakura just stared at him. Kaiba felt strange all of the sudden; claustrophobic, stifled. Then he realized why; without him even realizing it the other had slid up to him, close enough to kiss... Whoa, kiss? Where had that come from...?

Then Bakura kissed him.

Kaiba went half-limp, shocked, and glad that he had already been leaning up against the door. This actually felt... good... Almost without meaning to, he reached up and threaded his fingers through white hair, pulling him closer... Then, abruptly, his brain caught up with his body.

His eyes flew open, and he pushed Bakura away so hard that he stumbled, and fell. For a moment he just started down at him, breathing hard. "What were you thinking?" he hissed.

Bakura flushed. "I-"

The brunette strode over, and picked him up by his shirt-collar. "You weren't! Did you ever pause to consider what _Ryou_ would have to say about this, you cheating bastard?!" Judging by his expression, he hadn't. Kaiba took a deep breath, trying to will himself to calmness. Scowling, he put the smaller boy down. "You disgust me. I want you to leave - now! - and I better not see you in this house ever again."

Bakura just stared at him, a look of pain he wouldn't have thought possible for the dark spirit reflected in his eyes. "Now!" he barked.

"Gomen," he muttered bitterly, and hurried out the door.

Ah. Well. Kaiba leaned against the door again, head resting on the palm of his hand, and felt alone. His heart hardened. It was for the best, of course...

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They were both quiet on the way home. Bakura felt sick, knowing that once he got there, he was going to have to face Ryou's questions, his curious looks; he would want to know what they had done to upset Kaiba, after all... The ride was much too short.

Once they got up to Ryou's room and he had come out of the Ring again, he was proven right. "What did you do?" Ryou demanded, worried.

The spirit frowned. Well, that was nice... Then he had a horrible thought. The kiss had happened so suddenly that he'd forgotten to block his mind; what if Ryou had sensed... He looked away, hoping that his hikari wouldn't see his panicked expression. He would have to lie; that was all there was to it. "I... We had an argument. About his rabid working habits." He laughed nervously. "I was talking to him about it, and he said he didn't like me pushing him around and, well..."

His voice trailed off. Ryou was looking more pissed by the moment. "You!" he snapped. "I can't believe you would lie to me!"

Bakura gaped at him. "Wha-what?"

Ryou's fingers curled into fists, as if he was having trouble controlling himself. "Okay, I admit it! I kissed him once, when he was sick. But at least I can come right out and say so! You must have known I probably sensed it, but you still had the nerve to lie to me... How dare you!" And Ryou slapped him.

Dazedly, Bakura raised a hand to his cheek. It barely stung, but he felt like he couldn't breathe... Was this what it felt like, to be hit by someone you loved?

Ryou looked just as shocked as he did. After staring for a moment, he threw his arms around his dark, sobbing. Bakura blinked then hugged him back, whispering unintelligible words in an attempt to get him to calm down. To his mild amazement his own eyes prickled, though of course he refused to cry.

Finally Ryou managed to stop crying, and pulled away. "I'm so sorry," he sniffed.

He shrugged it off. "It's no big deal; my shirt will dry." He gently guided him over to the bed, sitting down next to him. "You had every right to be mad; I'm the one who should be sorry."

Ryou smiled weakly, rubbing his eyes. "No, I didn't. I kissed him behind your back too, and for the truth or dare game as well... What are we going to do, yami-kun? I don't want to leave you..."

"...But we both want Kaiba as well," he finished, sighing. "And apparently, he doesn't want us." He nervously glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. "I don't know about you, but now that I know that for sure... I might be able to forget about him."

Ryou smiled, relived, trying not to think about how much the thought of that hurt. "Yeah, I think I can too," he agreed, allowing himself to be gathered up in his koi's arms once again. He had no choice but to forget, after all. Sooner or later it wouldn't hurt as much; he and Bakura would patch things up between each other, and everything would be fine...

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**A/N**: (sob) Damn, that was way sadder than I remembered... But fear not; the story isn't over yet! Still one more chapter to go... Hey, did you catch that title plugging? (beam) I actually explained it! And would you believe that I wrote almost all of this in one day? Yeah, you probably would, seeing as how it's kind of short... R I've only got a couple! (pleads with big puppy eyes)


	8. Ryoho no Aishiteru

**Disclaimer**: Now remember, kiddies, don't drink (soda-pop) and drive 3

**A/N**: Aw... Say it with me: 'aw...' Beware the fluff! And... other things... (deranged cackle) Yeah. Finally, it deserves its rating... I guess I should shut up now, huh? Actually, if you want the full lemon - I had to edit out a whole page T.T - then you gotta go to my bio, 'cause dear ff net won't let me put links in here... No, I don't know why. Never the less, I wouldn't mind if you happened to review here, too... (shakes begging can)

/Blah/ Ryou thru link

(Bleh) Bakura thru link

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**Chapter Eight**: Ryoho no Aishiteru

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Kaiba sat in his office - the one at the Kaiba Corp. building, that is - contemplating every possible meaning of 'completely and utterly miserable.'

He had come in today, despite the fact that it was Sunday, to have some peace and quiet. He wasn't really getting any work done, no matter how hard he pretended to be. It would have been perfect too; no phone calls to distract him... But he couldn't get his mind off the day before.

After much thought, he had decided that he had royally screwed it up. Okay, so maybe he wasn't attracted to Bakura like that. And okay, so maybe Bakura was being a real ass for cheating on Ryou... But there might have been a chance that they could have talked it over... He winced. But then, that was what happened when he tried to have friends; he screwed it up. He didn't deserve friends...

He combed his fingers through his hair, feeling more down then he had in a long time. Usually when he started to get depressed he got pissed instead, but today he just couldn't seem to work up the energy. Yes, he didn't deserve friends. He was a horrible excuse for a person, with no likeable qualities whatsoever. So why had Bakura kissed him, then? He almost wished he could ask... In fact, he really wished he could ask. But there was no way the spirit would want to talk about it, after everything he'd said. He should say he was sorry, he supposed. But... since the disappearance of his adoptive father, he had never said sorry to a single person besides Mokuba. It was really asking a lot.

He closed his eyes, picturing the kiss again. Damn. 'Maybe he wasn't attracted to Bakura like that;' hmph. That was a really big 'maybe' there. Then his eyes snapped back open. No; absolutely not. It didn't matter whether he was attracted or not; Bakura belonged with Ryou, who he certainly didn't want to hurt. In fact, now that he thought about it, Ryou was pretty cute too... He groaned out loud. He had never even considered the possibility that he might be gay, but apparently... He briefly contemplated what would happen if it somehow got to the presses that the famous Seto Kaiba was attracted to men, and mentally shuddered. Another good reason to stay away from those two.

However... Kaiba eyed the phone with a sort of brooding dread. Before he set about avoiding Ryou and Bakura for the rest of his life, he needed to see them one more time. He just couldn't bear leaving things like this; he had to apologize whether he liked it or not. He supposed he ought to apologize to Ryou as well as Bakura; it was his boyfriend that he'd chewed out, after all. And if Ryou didn't know what had happened... well, Bakura was obviously worse than he'd thought.

So, unwillingly, he picked up the phone and dialed the couple's number.

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It was late Sunday evening when the phone rang. Ryou and Bakura had spent the day together, mostly just lying in bed and talking. That afternoon they had gone to the movies in an unspoken attempt to cheer each other up, but judging from the lingering, empty feeling inside him, Ryou didn't think it had worked very well. It hadn't helped Bakura either; he could tell. It was like deciding to forget about Kaiba just made him want to think about him more.

Bakura answered the phone, since he got the feeling that Ryou didn't really feel like dealing with anyone right now. Not that he did either, but oh well... "What?" he snapped; Ryou actually managed a giggled.

The person on the other end cleared his throat. "Pardon me if I called at a bad time; it's Kaiba."

Bakura frowned, forgetting that Kaiba couldn't see him. Here they were, trying to avoid him, and he just had to call them... "What do _you_ want?"

"I..." On the other end, Kaiba grimaced, and started over. "Listen, I need to talk to both of you about something, but I feel it would be better if we were to discuss it in person. Come to my office at Kaiba Corp."

He arched an eyebrow, both at the cool tone he used and the words he said. "Where the heck is that?" he asked bluntly.

Kaiba gave him an address and told him how to find his office, then hung up without giving the other time for further comment. Bakura glared at the phone before hanging up, then glanced at his koi. "What do you think?" he asked cautiously, knowing that they both wanted to go.

"Yeah..." he said, giving a miserable smile. "Yeah, I guess we might as well go; hear what he has to say..."

"...What are we going to do?" Bakura muttered, half to himself.

"Um... I just said?"

He rolled his eyes. "No, not that! I mean... well, you know what I mean."

Ryou stared dully at the carpet. "We could always have a threesome," he suggested sarcastically.

Bakura developed a thoughtful look. "You know, that's an idea..."

He blanched. "Yami-kun!"

The spirit held up his hands in mock surrender. "No, seriously!"

"No!"

"Couldn't we at least talk-"

"NO!"

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Kaiba drummed his fingertips on the desk, impatient and nervous. What if they didn't accept his apology? What if Bakura really hadn't told Ryou about what happened? What if he lost his temper and bit their heads off? What if - dammit, where the hell were they? This was getting ridiculous.

"Um... hello?"

He jumped out of his seat, barely keeping from screaming. When he saw who it was, however - Ryou and Bakura, of course - any reproof he might have had died in his throat. "Hello," he said stiffly, looking anywhere but directly at them.

"Hey," Bakura said blandly. "So, what did you want to say to us that was so important that we had to leave our house at eight at night?"

Now that all eyes were on him, he realized, he didn't know what to say. If he wasn't in such a predicament, he might have noticed the slightest grin in the yami's features. As it was, he opened his mouth, shut it again, then said, "Er."

Now the yami really did grin. "What's the matter, cat got your tongue?" he said, just a little snidely.

Kaiba glared. So he was perfectly justified in acting bitchy, but the fact of the matter was that he wasn't making this any easier. "No. I asked you here to say... I'm sorry." The couple exchanged looks of mild surprise. "I know I was a bit harsh, kicking you out of the house. Though..." He paused to glare at Bakura. "It certainly didn't improve my opinion of you, that you would cheat on Ryou like that."

"Well, how do you like that?" Bakura commented loftily. "He calls us here to apologize, and he winds up being rude. Come on, let's go." He wrapped his arm around his hikari's shoulder, and headed for the door.

Kaiba stared, shocked. It was the apology of his worst nightmares. 'I guess after being so foul for all these years, I've gotten out of practice,' he thought bitterly. Then Bakura glanced back at him.

"Unless, of course, you have anything to say for yourself."

At the same time, relief and a whole new wave of nervousness washed over him. "I... Why _did_ you kiss me, anyway?" Better now than never, he supposed.

He shrugged, as if Kaiba were asking what the weather was like outside. "Because I'm in love with you, of course."

His mouth fell open of its own accord. "You, eh... No you're not!" he blurted. "You're in love with Ryou, dammit!"

The gentler of the two glanced back as well, and grinned a little uncertainly. "But I'm in love with you too, Kaiba-kun."

Maybe a vacation to Hawaii, or better yet, Mexico, for his mental health... Had he _really_ just heard that? "But you're still together?" he asked, or rather, choked. "As simple as that? Are you two crazy?!"

The two exchanges secretive smiles, then Bakura pulled away and walked over to him. "Well, not quiet that simple," he admitted, circling him casually. "We were wondering, and now, be honest... Do you like us?"

He turned to keep an eye on the dark spirit; he was making him even more edgy... "What, I... No! Why do you want to know?"

He shrugged again. "Oh, if you don't then it really doesn't matter," he said nonchalantly. "I guess we'll just... go, then."

He watched them start to go once again, waging a war with himself. He really shouldn't, but... "Wait."

Ryou and Bakura glanced back again, feigning surprise. "Hmm?" Ryou asked innocently.

"Maybe," he said simply, examining the floor in depth. "Maybe; I... I don't know."

Bakura smirked hugely. "Well then, how would you like a little assistance in... making up your mind?"

He glance up, confused, only to become more confused. The only one standing in front of him was Ryou, beaming. He opened his mouth to comment on this, but froze. Reason being, a pair of thin but surprisingly strong arms had wrapped around his waist from behind, pulling him intoxicatingly close to their owner... who was kissing his neck... Before he got a chance to react, Bakura turned him around, in order to gain better access to his mouth. Meanwhile, Ryou came up behind him and proceeded to continue where Bakura had left off. Then Kaiba moaned as the lighter half shifted his hips pointedly, which caused his own hips to grid against Bakura's... The feeling was bliss.

Unfortunately, they then pulled away. Bakura grinned. "Well, did that help?" he inquired.

At this point, Kaiba's brain finally caught up with certain other organs. "Now, let me get this straight. You... _both_ want to be with me?"

Bakura rolled his eyes, amazed at how dense this man could be at times, but Ryou grinned sheepishly. "Yes, we do."

At that, Kaiba felt something snap inside of him. Something that caused him to bend down and kiss Ryou.

It was like letting out a breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding... a decidedly good feeling, he thought.

When they pulled away, he was a bit surprised to find that Ryou seemed close to tears. "I-I can't believe it worked," he said, looking somewhat in awe, and then he flung his arms around Kaiba's neck.

He blinked, going red. Well, that was... different... "What are you talking about?" he demanded.

(Argh, Ryou, do you really think he needs to know this was planned?)

/Er, sorry yami-kun; I'm just so happy.../

Ra, he was such a sap. Not that he actually cared, of course... Out loud, Bakura said, "Come now, let's not ruin the moment..." He wrapped his arms around Kaiba's waist again, kissing his neck lightly while his hands slowly wandered downward. Ryou went back to kissing him on the mouth while his hands explored under the CEO's shirt. This time, at least, they had decided to concentrate fully on making sure Kaiba _enjoyed_ himself...

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Anyone standing outside the office would have heard strange noises. The desk creaked. At one point there was the sound of papers falling to the floor. More to the point, there was moaning. Muttered words, also. Thankfully, it was Sunday and no one was in the entire building. Outside the moon rose, unnoticed.

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The three sunk to the plush if slightly messy carpet, panting, finally exhausted. Later maybe they could move to his couch, but for the moment Kaiba was content just where he was. He couldn't even begin to think what he'd been so scared of. His job... his reputation... his ego... they all seemed so far off just now. Of course, they _were_ all completely screwed, so he better hope they continued to seem that way. But somehow, he thought they would. "Ryoho no aishiteru," he muttered.

Bakura grinned toothily. "Does that mean you're up for another go?"

But Ryou snickered; Kaiba had already drifted to sleep...

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**A/N**: I - I - It's not... done... is it? WHOOP! It's freakin' done! I've actually finished posting all my stories. T-This is the happiest day of my life T.T So... Did it suck? I can't believe how annoying editing out lemons is. Injustice, I say! Repression of free speech! (sob) It sucked, didn't it? (sniff) (gets hit on the head with a random falling anvil) Owie! Okay, I'll stop whining now. Urm... review? Pleeeeeeeeease? This fic has, like, NO reviews T.T (more anvils) Argh, I'm whining again! (vows to build anvil-proof shelter where she can whine in peace). Oh! One last thing - 'ryoho no aishiteru' is as close as this poor, pitiful American-whose-high-school-doesn't-offer-a-Japanese-course can get to 'I love you both.' Toodles, ya'll, and don't forget to R&R!


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